Planning the Future of the American Society
for Cybernetics

Facilitator: Alisa
Oyler

ASC conducted strategic planning
meetings in 1980 and 1982. On Sunday afternoon we shall do this again. For
examples, go to this link
http://www.gwu.edu/~umpleby/ptp.html In a facilitated meeting the facilitator asks the
participants a series of questions. They write
their answers on cards which are put on the wall.
These cards are then clustered by similar ideas and the ideas are discussed. The facilitator then asks another
question.
Examples of questions are the following:

Vision: What do you want to see
happening in five years?Obstacles: What are the obstacles to achieving this vision?Strategies: What strategies can we undertake to remove theobstacles to achieving the vision?Actions: What actions do we need to take in the next year
to implement the strategies for removing the obstacles to achieving the
vision?

Going through these steps takes at least a day, usually two.
We have only half a day so the process will be
shorter. We might begin with a review of history
(Macy conferences to the present) and then formulate
plans for how we think we should move forward from here. Regardless of the questions asked, the event will be
designed to solicit and accept the ideas of those
present. These facilitated meetings are a good
example of cybernetics in that they assume that people have very different
views. The purpose of the meeting is to assemble
the various perspectives in a way that allows
everyone to contribute to the progress of the organization.